A mobile measuring device (100) includes a power supply module (110) that includes a rechargeable battery (120), a primary battery (130) and an electronic control unit (140). The rechargeable battery is permanently installed in the mobile measuring device and can be charged via a charging device (122) of the mobile measuring device. The primary battery is also permanently installed in the mobile measuring device. The electronic control unit is configured to guarantee a power supply of the mobile measuring device via the rechargeable battery as long as an electrical minimum power supply is provided by the rechargeable battery and to change to a temporary power supply by the primary battery if the minimum supply power is undershot.

The present disclosure provides for an electronic sensor for detecting a root of a plant in soil, the electronic sensor that includes a first conductor plate configured to be disposed in soil, a switch, a power supply, and a signal extractor. The switch is electrically coupled to the first conductor plate and is configured to switch between a first mode and a second mode. The power supply is electrically coupled to the switch and is configured to provide an electrical charge to the first conductor plate in the first mode of the switch. The signal extractor is electrically coupled to the switch and is configured to extract a signal response at the first conductor plate in the second mode of the switch. The present disclosure further provides a second conductor plate configured to be disposed in soil adjacent to and substantially parallel to the first conductor plate. The second conductor plate is electrically coupled to ground.

A method for operating a gas sensor system comprising a gas sensor, in order to provide a concentration variable of a gas concentration of a gas component in a sample gas. The method includes: measuring the gas concentration during a measurement process in order to obtain a temporal evolution of a sensor signal as a function of the gas concentration; determining the concentration variable using a data-based sensor model as a function of the temporal evolution of the sensor signal, the data-based sensor model being trained to take into account a behavior of the sensor outside the measurement process in order to ascertain the concentration variable.

The present invention relates to a method for characterising, by means of an electronic nose, the release kinetics of odorous compounds from a sample, comprising the following series of steps: (a) supplying a sample; (b) at a time t1, exposing the sensor array of the electronic nose to some of the gaseous medium comprising the odorous compounds released from the sample, and processing the response emitted by the sensor array of the electronic nose, after said exposure, in the form of a signal; and (c) repeating step (b) at least once, at a time t2 different from the time t1, whereby an olfactory kinetic signature characterising the sample is obtained. The present invention also relates to the use of this method for anti-counterfeiting and/or quality control purposes and for generating a data bank or database of temporal olfactory signatures. The present invention finally relates to certain devices used when implementing such methods.

Systems and methods for assessing a microbial characteristic within a growing medium. Such a system assesses one or more microbial characteristics, such as biomass and/or microbial activity, within a growing medium, such as soil. Electrical properties of a microbially degradable material in contact with the growing medium are measured. The measurements are used to determine the microbial characteristic(s) based at least partly on degradation of the microbially degradable material.

A portable remote processing apparatus facilitates various aspects of a transaction, such as a real estate property transaction. A seller of the real estate property can use the portable remote processing apparatus to prepare a walk-through of the property for prospective buyers, to configure the property for a showing, and/or to interact with a buyer device to negotiate a sale of the real estate property. Typically, the portable remote processing apparatus communicates with a remote server device, thereby limiting the amount of hard coding in the apparatus and improving the processing capability of the apparatus.

In one illustrative configuration, an air quality monitoring system may enable wide-scale deployment of multiple air quality monitors with high-confidence and actionable data is provided. Further, the air quality monitoring system may enable identifying a target emission from a plurality of potential sources at a site based on simulating plume models. The simulation of plume models may take into consideration various simulation parameters including wind speed and direction. Further, methods of determining a plume flux of a plume of emissions at a site, and methods of transmitting data from an air quality monitor are disclosed.

There is presented an electrochemical sensor (100) for sensing an analyte in an associated volume (106), the sensor comprising a first solid element (126), a second solid element (128) being joined to the first solid element, a chamber (110) being placed at least partially between the first solid element and the second solid element, a working electrode (104) in the chamber (110), a reference electrode (108), and wherein one or more analyte permeable openings (122) connect the chamber (110) with the associated volume (106), and wherein the electrochemical sensor (100) further comprises an analyte permeable membrane (124) in said one or more analyte permeable openings, wherein the one or more analyte permeable openings are placed at least partially between the first solid element and the second solid element.

Object: To provide a remote substance identification device that can identify an unidentified substance, such as a harmful substance, from a remote location. Solution: Provided are a remote substance identification device and method, the device comprising a laser device 10 that emits a laser beam to an irradiated space; a wavelength conversion device 20 that converts a wavelength of the laser beam emitted from the laser device into a plurality of different wavelengths and that emits laser beams of the different wavelengths to the irradiated space; a light collecting-detecting device 30, 40, 50 that collects and detects resonance Raman-scattered light generated from an irradiated object due to resonance Raman scattering; and a processor 60 that identifies the irradiated object on the basis of a result detected by the collecting-detecting device 30, 40, 50.

A system includes an array of chemical, pressure, and temperature sensors, and a temporal airflow modulator configured to provide sniffed vapors in a temporally-modulated sequence through a plurality of different air paths across multiple sensor locations.